BBC on Mobile Computing

The video from the “Click” programme on the BBC, touches on the M$/Intel “schism”, the ARM/Intel competition and speculates on what that other OS will be doing on ARM. They speculate that “8” will operate more or less in the familiar mode on netbooks and docked smart phones but retreat to something like Phoney 7 on smart phones or tablets. There is some hint that there will be a mechanism for existing applications to run on the ARMed systems. Good luck with that. Major changes in that other OS take lots of time and it is doubtful they can bring all the vapour-ware into existence befor the end of 2012 by which time Android/Linux and GNU/Linux will have their own rich environment of applications.

Recent news is that Android is activating on 350000 devices per day. A year of that is 128 million smart devices. Even if M$ can intrude in this space with its partners and channels aligned, it may never have a monopoly or near-monopoly. There is no way M$ can lock-in OEMs, retailers and consumers this time, the way they did the PC. I predict these devices will actually intrude in the PC space in several ways and eat M$’s cash-cows.

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About Robert Pogson

I am a retired teacher in Canada. I taught in the subject areas where I have worked for almost forty years: maths, physics, chemistry and computers. I love hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, too.

11 Responses to BBC on Mobile Computing

East Texas is notorious for finding in favour of plaintiffs in patent suits. They are also notorious for having rulings overturned on appeal. For only $5 million it may not be worth appealing but it may be worth it to punish the patent troll involved. This is one of many proofs that software patents are invalid. GROKLAW has a good article on the nonsensical nature of software patents.

I speculate that M$ will develop some kind of “compatibility layer” perhaps with a virtual machine to fake out the normal environment. This will further reduce efficiency but ease the porting version. If there are sufficient sales, proper ports could result.

Microsoft may succeed in their endeavour however compared to open source – not Linux – Microsoft must overcome an additional hurdle. With open source, if one wants to develop an ARM device, they can try to port all the desired software themselves, by enrolling hired and voluntary developers, without asking for permission from the copyright owners (who will very likely welcome such a development). They can provide support for this software themselves or, more likely, they can identify third party support.

Windows will have to convince all the third-party software vendors to port their applications to an exotic platform and to bear the added development and support costs. Unless these vendors perceive a tangible gain, they will be reluctant to get involved, in the same way Microsoft themselves discontinued the Development of Internet Explorer for Macs.

I wonder if Microsoft hired a bunch of magicians as part of their strategy squeeze ‘8’ into ARM. To tell you the truth, I can’t wait to see the results. Who knows, maybe they will start from scratch with a crack team of 12 programmers or so and have the thing done under budget and on time… Naaah. Microsoft has never let us down and they won’t start now.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.